A much better week

A few days ago Levi announced that he was bored, fed up, worried about his education and he wanted to go to school.

The problem is that a while ago my brother bought him a PSP and ever since then all Levi has wanted to do is play the blooming thing. I tried having a set time every day where he was allowed to play it but it didn't work, every time I turned my back he drifted straight back to the PSP. He became quite sneaky and devious in his efforts to get more game time. I tried letting him have it with no restrictions in the hope that the novelty would wear off, but it didn't. In fact all that happened was he began loosing weight because he was forgetting to eat and drink. He was eating three meals a day (because I insist we all sit down as a family to eat) but that was it, normally he eats quite a few snacks during the day too (which he needs because he's so skinny).

Then last week he got really upset because he was so bored. I think I would be rather bored too if I did nothing but play computer games all day.

We had a long talk about it and he agreed to try doing activities with me instead of refusing everything I offer.

I tried to think of things I know he likes doing so we've been doing lots of cooking and things that involve ordering and sorting things. In the end I had to hide the PSP, somewhere he'll never think of looking for it and now it seems like I've got my lovely happy little boy back.

We don't normally have pudding but I wanted to encourage him to make a few things so he made jelly and fruit cocktail on Monday. Personally I hate fruit cocktail but he likes it.

We went to Borders on Tuesday and I found this Usborne flag sticker atlas. Levi loves maps and flags so I thought it would interest him. When I showed it to him however, he poo pood the idea but today with a bit of encouragement he really enjoyed doing it. Of course I had to stick the stickers in for him as he can't bear it if they aren't completely straight but he had a lovely time finding the different flags.

In fact once he got going he didn't want to stop.

I also found this Usborne flags of the world puzzle. I don't normally buy new jigsaws but I decided to make an exception this time.

Again he really enjoyed doing it. We couldn't finish it tonight though as we went swimming today so he was really tired. We'll finish it in the morning.

As well as going swimming he also had a violin lesson and we did some reading so quite a good day really.

I made this for tea yesterday. It's a sponge cake with mascarpone and passion fruit filling.

A weekend without the children

I had virtually the entire weekend without the children and it was bliss. I often have weekends without the boys but this was different in that I wasn't rushing off to an EO meeting or a training course, I was on my own because Levi had gone to watch Portsmouth play Liverpool and Theo was at my mums so I was able to relax at home.

I made myself a really scrummy blueberry cheesecake and spent the day pottering about the house. Not very exciting but quiet.

Then this morning I had to go to St Georges with our Beavers and Cubs as it was church parade. I wasn't looking forward to it as last time we went the service was seriously dull. I was quite surprised as today it was much more lively, they had a band and a puppet show which was much more interesting.

Levi arrived home at 5.30pm and had just enough time to get changed before we had to rush off to his church as he was taking part in the service.

Levi gets his wish

Levi was very happy when it snowed this week. He's only ever seen snow once before when we lived in the community. Ever since then he has wished for snow every winter.

We had a lovely snowball fight during which I managed to fill one of his wellies with snow.

Then we built a snowman. As you can see the snow wasn't very deep so when we were rolling him we were picking up quite a bit of mud too.

I haven't built a snowman since before I had the children, I don't remember it being quite so hard back then.

The end result.

Now I know he's not very big, he's a bit mucky, we didn't have a hat, scarf, carrot or big stones for the eyes, mouth and buttons.

But we had fun making him and that's what matters.

Christmas

We properly celebrated Christmas this year for the first time ever. It's part of my new outlook on life which is to just live my life and be happy rather than burdening myself with a load of strict doctrines to live by. Those of you who know me well will know what I'm on about.

This photo was taken at the Beavers Christmas party.

This is our teeny tiny pot grown Christmas tree.

I was expecting it to shed millions of needles but it hardly shed any. Apparently I looked quite funny carrying it home in my shopping trolley.

I let the children decorate it and they didn't do a bad job but the next day, while I was out, Levi couldn't help himself and he made a few 'adjustments' until the whole thing looked a mess. In the end we had to redecorate it three times. Oh the joys of living with an OCD child.

Please note the length of Theo's hair.

Levi's Birthday

We went with a football theme this year. Between Christmas and his birthday he got a Liverpool away shirt, training shirt, scarf, wallet, flag, mug, piggy bank, calendar, lollipop and the Liverpool annual.

He also got a football, pump, two match attacks tins, a football card game and a little set consisting of a whistle and a red and yellow card to use when he's watching a match. His birthday cake had footballs on it, all his cards had football on them and all his presents were wrapped in football paper.

The boy is obsessed.

And as you can see Theo finally had a haircut.